What Makes Protégés Take Mentors’ Advice in Formal Mentoring Relationships?

This study examines the factors affecting a protégé’s willingness to take a mentor’s advice. The sample for this study consisted of 183 protégés from two different South Korean organizations who were part of formal mentoring programs. We found protégé commitment to be the principal factor that predisposes a protégé to take advice from mentors and protégé-perceived relationship quality as the antecedent of protégé commitment. In particular, protégé commitment was identified as a full mediator between relationship quality and willingness to take mentor’s advice. In addition, a protégé’s trust in a mentor was regarded as a partial mediator between protégé-perceived relationship quality and protégé commitment. The theoretical and managerial implications of our findings are also discussed herein.